A consumer court asked a city-based fertility clinic to pay Rs 3 lakh in compensation to a man, besides Rs 4.75 lakh it collected for a surrogate baby.

Mahesh S (name changed) is a divorcee from Mysuru who wanted to have a child through surrogacy. He came across an advertisement by Dr Rama’s Fertility IVF centre and approached the Indiranagar-based clinic for the service.

Mahesh told DH that the clinic presented him an estimate of Rs 7 lakh for the whole procedure. “They said getting a baby through surrogate mother is as easy as drinking water. For twin babies, they asked me to pay Rs 1.5 lakh more.”

The clinic asked him to donate his sperm which they would use within the surrogate’s womb with oocyte. Mahesh made several visits to the clinic to pay them and donate his sperms.

The staff never informed him anything about surrogacy. They made excuses saying one of the surrogate mothers met with an accident. They later said they would not offer surrogacy services to a single parent.

When Mahesh demanded his money back, the clinic said they had already begun procedures for the IVF cycle and would deduct Rs 2 lakh. Mahesh paid Rs 4.75 lakh for the surrogate baby since 2016.

In its defence, the centre said Mahesh was not cooperating in donating his sperms when required and that he was spoiling the reputation of the clinic.

The IV Additional District Consumer Disputes Redressal Forum’s president S L Patil and its member N R Roopa passed an order on October 26, directing the clinic to refund the Rs 4.75 lakh with a 10% interest per annum. It also directed the clinic to pay a compensation of Rs 3 lakh to Mahesh and Rs 5,000 towards litigation cost.